A Proven System Solution from JDB Associates
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Applications Development Team

Problem Overview
A manufacturer of medical devices was struggling to manage their complex environment consisting of numerous systems, data communications and integration points.  They had purchased Byteware Inc.’s MessengerPlus package to help, but had never had the time to properly implement the system or modify current processes to take advantage it. 

Project Approach
The customer hired JDB to help them determine how to best implement the tool to provide maximum security and provide timely communication of the following problems:

• Key processes or job streams that did not run or had not completed by a certain time.
• Application errors, failed processes, unmonitored messages.
• Problems with backups or communications between systems.

First, JDB developed a framework for how MessengerPlus would be implemented for the client, created guidelines and standards, and implemented the recommendations.  This setup included developing a flexible environment where applications and monitoring could be added without major rework.  Generic messaging rules were created so that future applications could be set up to tap into MessengerPlus’s message notification utilities to send e-mails or pages if an error or warning condition occurred.  Message delivery procedures were implemented to ensure that even if the first on-call person did not respond, the message would be sent to the next person on call.

After setting up the tool to handle all of the client’s needs, JDB facilitated the documentation of key processes, milestones or events that needed to be monitored.  Processing milestones were identified then steps were taken to monitor these to ensure they completed correctly and within defined time parameters.  In some cases, this involved making small changes to the processes themselves.  In others, MessengerPlus capabilities were able to monitor for many conditions such as monitoring that a job ran or checking for error messages.  In some special instances, custom validation processes had to be created to check for the existence of a file on the network, that work files had been cleared or deleted, or to monitor an FTP logs, etc.  Anything that was a critical step in these key processes was checked or verified.

Results
Today, instead of waiting for a user in finance to waste hours crunching numbers, stumbling across a problem, verifying that there is something wrong and then communicating this to the IS staff (who in turn needs to try and find out what happened), the customer walks into the office each morning knowing if they had any problems the night before or not.  They are confident that critical processes ran successfully and key data feeds worked.  If there are errors, they can let users know about the problem while they work to resolve it instead of the embarrassment of the users letting them know about it.  The setup also allows the customer to quickly add additional checkpoints or validations without a lot of work. 

The customer’s IS staff now spends less time reacting to problems well after the fact and more time on value added tasks.  Key processes are monitored and errors generate automatic messages that can be dealt with quickly.  JDB helped the customer reap the benefits of their software investment and improved the level of service for their users.